The Seattle Times live chats Thursday evening during gov and veep debates

Wow, what a busy night in politics. The Seattle Times politics team is live-streaming Thursday night’s vice-presidential debate and hosting a live chat with you, the readers, and some of our editors and writers. Join us for a discussion from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. about content and style and debate points. Sure, Democratic Vice President Joe Biden and Paul Ryan, the Republican vice presidential candidate, are only the No. 2 in their operations. But debates are proving to be a big deal this election cycle. Then, take a break and come on back for the second debate.

Five local TV stations are broadcasting the fourth of five Washington gubernatorial debates Thursday from 9 to 10 p.m., a back-and-forth between Democrat Jay Inslee and Republican Rob McKenna. Join us for a live chat — a discussion and analysis of the debate in real time. The debate will be simulcast on KING, KOMO, KIRO, KCPQ and NWCN.

We invite you to join the discussion about the content and style of the debate and how both candidates are faring. We will be talking throughout the debate with Jeff Philpott from Seattle University, an expert on debate and rhetoric.

Here is an excerpt from his bio on the Seattle U. website

“He has a Masters in Interpersonal Communication (with specializations in relationship dynamics and nonverbal communication) and a Ph.D. in Rhetorical Theory and Criticism (with a secondary emphasis in media criticism). His scholarly interests focus on the epistemic and sociological functions of rhetoric, particularly on the role of public narratives in shaping and transforming social knowledge and identity – in other words, how public communication shapes our understanding of the world and ourselves. “

Also moderating and discussing the debate will be Times political editor Richard Wagoner and myself.

About this blog

Politics Northwest is the go-to blog for politics in our region. The blog explores national, state and local political news and issues. Reporters from Washington, D.C., to Seattle City Hall to the state capital in Olympia contribute. Editors are Richard Wagoner and Beth Kaiman.